Using Web-Based Instruction to Teach Music Theory in the Piano Studio: Defining, Designing, and Implementing an Integrative Approach

This dissertation rationalizes the best use of Web-based instruction (WBI) for teaching music theory to private piano students in the later primary grades. It uses an integrative research methodology for defining, designing, and implementing a curriculum that includes WBI. Research from the fields of music education, educational technology, educational psychology, and interaction design and children receive primary consideration. A synthesis of these sources outlines several research-based principles that instructional designers can use to design a complete blended learning environment for use within the piano studio. In addition to the research-based principles, the precise methods of determining instructional tasks and implementing the program online are described in detail. A full implementation is then deployed, and piano teachers evaluate the extent to which the online program fulfills the research-based principles. This dissertation does not argue for the complete migration of theory instruction from traditional workbook approaches to an entirely Web-based medium but rather outlines the best use of face-to-face instruction, collaboration amongst students, teachers, and parents, and interaction with a Web-based program. This formative research provides a complete model of integrating WBI within the piano studio that can guide instructional designers and music educators

Evaluation of online formative assessment practices at higher education institutions

Higher Education (HE) institutions have incorporated online formative assessments as the integral part of teaching and learning. The literature points to a need for lecturers to have wide knowledge, including knowledge about student learning, domains of study, assessment and pedagogy, to effectively implement online formative assessment. The TPACK conceptual framework and the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) were used as a lens to interpret lecturers’ best practices in the implementation of online formative assessment. The study adopted a qualitative research using multiple case studies embedded with holistic cases. The purpose of the embedded case study was to investigate online formative assessment activities and document lecturers’ best practices when implementing online formative assessments at HE institutions in Namibia and Finland respectively. Therefore, three research questions guided the study which focused on assessment for learning: Firstly, to understand how online formative assessment is implemented at HE institutions. Secondly, to determine why do lecturers implement formative assessment in the online courses considering strategies and tools used for the designing and development of different types of formative assessment activities. Thirdly, identify what the challenges and benefits for online formative assessment at HE institutions. The results revealed that lecturers incorporated several tools to design and develop online formative assessment activities. In addition, lecturers demonstrated knowledge of TPACK which is considered a professional knowledge construct in the development of online formative assessment. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicated that lecturers provided feedback to students for all formative assessment activities. Lecturers had knowledge of identifying and addressing related challenges that could hinder the effective implementation of online formative assessment. The most noted challenges include poor internet connection, dishonesty on the part of students, insufficient time to provide immediate feedback for some assessment activities and lack of funding for research and innovation.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.TM2019Science, Mathematics and Technology EducationPhDUnrestricte

An online, introductory course on small-scale poultry farming designed for the community college learner

The purpose of the online course within this creative component is to introduce individuals in a community college setting to small-scale poultry farming to provide the fundamentals of poultry production. The importance of this course was to grant students the opportunity to assess if they had the desire to learn more about the poultry industry and to gauge their interest in whether to seek a career in the field. With the COVID-19 pandemic in force at the current time, it was likely that more students would be thinking about enrolling in online courses to acquire their education. The creative component presents a syllabus and seventeen units. The instructional design is based upon, Quality Matters Standards for Higher Education, and Bloom’s Taxonomic Levels. Content was sourced from government, private, or university or/extension. This combination provides a comprehensive, and learner-centered approach to the introductory of small-scale poultry production

Adult Students\u27 Perception of the Congruence of Hybrid Courses with Their Adult Learning Needs and Their Satisfaction

The overall purpose of the study was to examine adult students\u27 perception of the congruence of hybrid courses with adult learning needs and to examine adult students\u27 level of satisfaction with hybrid courses. The study collected data through pre and post surveys, administered at the beginning and near the end of the hybrid courses, of adult students\u27 perceptions. The pre survey questionnaire sought quantitative responses only. The post survey sought quantitative and qualitative responses. The quantitative data was analyzed by utilizing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)

COGNITIVE PRESENCE IN PEER FACILITATED ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSION: THE PATTERNS AND HOW TO FACILITATE

This study, in the context of peer-facilitated asynchronous online discussion, explored the characteristics and patterns of students’ cognitive presence, and examined the practices that aim to enhance cognitive presence development. Participants were 53 students from a graduate-level online course that focused on the integration of educational technologies. Data were collected from discussion transcripts, student survey, student artifacts, and researcher’s observations. Results demonstrated four phases of students’ cognitive presence: Triggering event, Exploration, Integration, and Resolution. Among the four phases, students’ cognitive presence tended to aggregate at the middle phases: Integration and Exploration. Percentage of the Resolution was very low. The distribution of students’ discussion behaviors further revealed: a) the hierarchical relationship between the four phases: Integration and Resolution involved a higher-level of cognitive engagement, and Triggering event and Exploration involved a lower-level of cognitive engagement; b) the phase of Resolution heavily relied on experiment, while the other three phases heavily relied on making use of personal experience; c) creating of cognitive presence occurred in both the private space of individual activities and the shared space of having dialogues. The conversation analysis of threads and episodes explored the temporal evolvement of cognitive presence. The results showed that, in an ongoing discussion, students’ cognitive presence evolved in a non-linear way, rather than strictly phase by phase as suggested by the PI model. Experiments were designed and conducted to determine the effects of two pedagogical interventions – 1) providing guidance on peer facilitation techniques; 2) asking students to label their posts. The results showed that the Intervention 1 and the combination of two interventions credibly improved students’ cognitive presence. They were especially effective in improving Integration, a higher level of cognitive presence. After having added Intervention 2, cognitive presence increased from the first-half to the second-half semester, although the improvement was not found to be statistically credible. This study confirmed the close association between and among cognitive presence, social interaction, and peer facilitation. The results clearly showed that Intervention 1 – providing guidance on peer facilitation credibly improved students’ social interaction and peer facilitation. However, Mixed findings were obtained for Intervention 2 – asking students to label their posts. It was found that Intervention 2 positively increased students’ social interaction. However, it did not show any impact on students’ peer facilitation behaviors. It is also worth noting that the effect of the combination of two interventions was much larger than any single one of them. Conversation analysis was conducted to zoom in on the dynamic process of discussion. The cases revealed that when students were provided with the guidance on peer facilitation techniques, they tended to use a variety of facilitation techniques in a strategic way to help peers to achieve a sustained and deeper-level conversation. Compared to the control group, the students in the treatment group showed more peer facilitation behaviors, which led to more conversations and more higher-level cognitive presence. This study has unpacked the complexity of students’ cognitive presence in a peer-facilitated discussion environment, especially when students are coached in performing teaching presence. The results shed light on the pedagogical practices and strategies of creating an online learning community that incubates rich cognitive presence. Finally, implications are discussed for the research and practices in online instruction and discussion analytics

Understanding Inquiry, an Inquiry into Understanding: a conception of Inquiry Based Learning in Mathematics

IBL (Inquiry Based Learning) is a group of educational approaches centered on the student and aiming at developing higher-level thinking, as well as an adequate set of Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes (KSA). IBL is at the center of recent educational research and practice, and is expanding quickly outside of schools: in this research we propose such forms of instruction as Guided Self-Study, Guided Problem Solving, Inquiry Based Homeschooling, IB e-learning, and particularly a mixed (Inquiry-Expository) form of lecturing, named IBLecturing. The research comprises a thorough review of previous research in IBL; it clarifies what is and what is not Inquiry Based Learning, and the distinctions between its various forms: Inquiry Learning, Discovery Learning, Case Study, Problem Based Learning, Project Based Learning, Experiential Learning, etc. There is a continuum between Pure Inquiry and Pure Expository approaches, and the extreme forms are very infrequently encountered. A new cognitive taxonomy adapted to the needs of higher-level thinking and its promotion in the study of mathematics is also presented. This research comprises an illustration of the modeling by an expert (teacher, trainer, etc.) of the heuristics and of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies employed by mathematicians for solving problems and building proofs. A challenging problem has been administered to a group of gifted students from secondary school, in order to get more information about the possibility of implementing Guided Problem Solving. Various opportunities for further research are indicated, for example applying the recent advances of cognitive psychology on the role of Working Memory (WM) in higher-level thinking

Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments

Wild, F., Kalz, M., & Palmér, M. (Eds.) (2008). Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE08). September, 17, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands: CEUR Workshop Proceedings, ISSN 1613-0073. Available at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-388.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project (funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org]) and partly sponsored by the LTfLL project (funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme, priority ISCT. Contract 212578 [http://www.ltfll-project.org

Automating stem learning by engaging in artful-inspired play

A full range of experimental methodologies split between two distinct yet related projects was performed in an effort to define ways to automate STEM learning in artful-inspired play. Both projects aim to offer impactful learning experiences through artful-inspired activities meant to automate STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning in children that are both scientifically and non-scientifically inclined. By participating in play that is both fun and engaging, learning is a byproduct of the activity which acts to automatically embed STEM knowledge and experiences within the user. Bridging the gap between STEM and artistic tendencies has the potential to provide a multi-faceted learning experience that could attract non-traditional STEM candidates, such as children with a passion for drawing. The first project presents the concept and initial prototype of a color-driven tangible learning environment that teaches mathematics, while the second project presents the preliminary results of longitudinal study conducted to analyze how children use hand-drawn sketching to expand and facilitate their design thinking for STEM-based activities. The Math Bright Blocks introduce a gaming module that intends to cognitively color code mathematical operations and automate STEM learning by achieving increased interest, cognitive speed, and excitement in children with regards to the field of mathematics. Conception, design, construction, and initial testing of the module were performed to innovate a new cross-cutting approach to education. However, through careful consideration, it was determined that the color space is too much of an unexplored arena and that additional theoretical frameworks and testing approaches are necessary for constructing an appropriate testing environment for color and its implications for children. Lastly, the ways children use sketching methods to communicate design ideas during a variety of activities in the Purdue sponsored GERI Toy Design Lab in Mechanical Engineering, including how color is utilized to communicate ideas, were evaluated. The activities that this observational research focuses on are those that purposefully implemented hand sketching; Marshmallow Tower, Sketching Workshop, and the NERF Blaster challenge. With only 17 participants, there are not enough data points to be able to offer any type of meaningful statistical significance. Therefore, this work acts to establish a foundation built upon initial observation on which future in-depth sketching analyses can be facilitated. Observations of the participants offered mixed results. The participants did not use sketching for iterative design, but suggested in the respective survey materials that sketching was important for design planning. Additionally, observations made during the NERF Blaster challenge suggest that children need a physical representation to visualize in order to be fully engaged in sketching for design. Color was rarely used to facilitate design communication, and when used, colors were seemingly chosen based on real-world representations

TinkRBooks : tinkerable story elements for emergent literacy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-102).Printed words are an abstract representation of concepts. Today parents teach children how to read by demonstrating how text is related to imagery. I present textual tinkerability, an idea for demonstrating reading by using multisensory gestures to expose and alter the text-graphic relationship within the story. Tinkerability allows readers to physically express words as they read, giving them some degree of control over the narrative. Two interactive storybooks called TinkRBooks demonstrate how tinkerability supports parent-child emergent literacy. Design guidelines were developed to showcase how tinkerability can be used for creating educationally meaningful interactivity. TinkRBooks allows parents to gesturally modify and discuss how text relates to concepts within a narrative. TinkRBooks allows children to actively explore the abstract relationship between printed words and their meanings, even before this relationship is properly understood. This ability to explore textual representation changes the way parents read to their children during emergent literacy. When using a TinkRBook, parents spend more time talking, discussing more comprehensive ideas with their children and provoking more meta dialogue than with regular books. TinkRBook also encourages children to drive their reading inquiry, by actively demonstrating the concepts relating to vocabulary schema within the narrative. The result is a new story sharing experience that benefits both parents and children by allowing them to understand how the choice of words impacts the story experience.by Angela Chang.Ph.D

Namaste: Pedagogical Methods for Designing Yoga & Art Experiences for/with Teen Participants

Within this study, teens are asked to analyze yoga studio homepages in relation to their experiences with the practice of yoga. This dissertation research engages the teen girls as participants responsible for co-designing the learning constructs through which they make meaning out of their experiences. This research is rooted in informational design, experiential design, and design practices for a teen demographic through the artifact of yoga. Participant observation is used to examine how eight teen girls understand yoga as a practice, internalize their experiences with yoga, and thusly communicate what they have learned about yoga and a sampling of digital texts in which yoga is represented. A heuristic evaluation of 307 yoga studio homepages is conducted to identify how information is presented in relation to the needs expressed by the teens participating in this study. The survey responses of 28 individuals describing themselves as yoga studio owners, yoga practitioners, and information designers are investigated to uncover how the se information producers perceive teens as users of yoga studio homepages, practitioners of yoga, and consumers of yoga experiences. The final chapter of this study considers how information about yoga should be designed on studio homepages to support the cognitive, developmental, and experiential needs of teen learners